- Create Mac Os X Install Usb From Linux
- Mac Os X Install Usb Format
- Mac Os X Install Usb Stick
- Mac Os X Install Usb Raw
- How To Install Macos On Usb In Windows
The process of installing OS X or macOS on a Mac hasn't changed a great deal since OS X Lion altered the delivery of the OS from optical disks to electronic downloads, using the Mac App Store.
The big advantage of downloading the Mac OS is, of course, immediate gratification (and not having to pay shipping charges). But the downside is that the installer you download is deleted as soon as you make use of it by installing the Mac operating system.
With the installer gone, you lose the opportunity to install the OS on more than one Mac without having to go through the download process again. You also lose out on having an installer that you can use to perform clean installs that completely overwrite your startup drive, or having an emergency bootable installer that includes a few useful utilities that can bail you out of an emergency.
To overcome these limitations of the installer for OS X or macOS, all you need is a USB drive that contains a bootable copy of the installer.
How to Create a Bootable Flash Installer of the OSX or MacOS on a USB Drive
Plug in your USB drive into the computer and open Disk Utility (in Applications). Select the USB drive from the left sidebar and click on Erase tab. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the format box and let the name be Untitled (default). Now click on Erase button and wait until the format process completes.
There are two ways to make a bootable copy of the installer; one makes use of Terminal, the command-line utility included with all copies of OS X and macOS; the other uses a combination of the Finder, Disk Utility, and Terminal to get the job done.
In the past, we've always shown you the manual method, which uses the Finder, Disk Utility, and Terminal. Although this method involves more steps, it's easier for many Mac users because the majority of the process uses familiar tools. This time around, we're going to show you the Terminal app method, which uses a single command that has been included with the Mac OS installer since OS X Mavericks was released.
The OS X Yosemite installer is the last version of the installer with which we verified this manual method using the Finder, Disk Utility, and Terminal. The general recommendation is to skip the manual method for any version of the Mac OS that is newer than OS X Mavericks, and instead use the Terminal method and the createinstallmedia command, as outlined below.
Create Mac Os X Install Usb From Linux
Start by Not Starting
Before you begin, stop. That may sound a bit daft, but as we mentioned above, if you use the OS X or macOS installer, it will likely delete itself from your Mac as part of the installation process. So, if you haven't yet used the installer you downloaded, don't. If you've already installed the Mac OS, you can re-download the installer following these instructions:
If you're just now downloading the installer, you'll notice that once the download is complete, the installer will start up on its own. You can just quit the installer, the same way you'd quit any other Mac app.
What You Need
Mac Os X Install Usb Format
You should already have the OS X or macOS installer on your Mac. It will be located in the /Applications folder, with one of the following names:
A USB flash drive. You can use any USB drive that is 8 GB in size or larger. We suggest a flash drive in the 32 GB to 64 GB range, as they seem to be the sweet spot in cost and performance. The actual size of the bootable version of the installer varies, depending on which version of the Mac OS you're installing, but so far, none has gone over 8 GB in size.
A Mac that meets the minimum requirements for the OS you're installing:
If you have everything you need, let's get started, using the createinstallmedia command.
Use the Createinstallmedia Command to Create a Bootable Mac Installer
It's not really that much of a secret, but ever since OS X Mavericks, the Mac OS installers have contained a command hidden inside the installer package that takes what used to be a complex process for creating a bootable copy of the installer, and turns it into a single command you enter into Terminal.
This Terminal command, called createinstallmedia, can create a bootable copy of the installer using any drive connected to your Mac. In this guide, we're going to use a USB flash drive, but you could also use a normal hard drive or SSD that's connected to your Mac. The process is the same, regardless of the destination. Whatever media you use to create the bootable Mac OS installer on, it will be completely erased by the createinstallmedia command, so be careful. Whether you're going to use a flash drive, a hard drive, or an SSD, be sure to back up any data on the drive before you begin this process.
How to Use the Createinstallmedia Terminal Command
- Make sure that the Mac OS installer file is present in your /Applications folder. If it's not there, or you're not sure of its name, seethe previous section of this guide for details on the installer file name, and how to download the needed file.
- Plug your USB flash drive into your Mac.
- Check the flash drive's content. The drive will be erased during this process, so if there's any data on the flash drive that you want to save, back it up to another location before proceeding.
- Change the flash drive's name to FlashInstaller. You can do this by double-clicking the drive's name to select it, and then type in the new name. You can actually use any name you wish, but it must exactly match the name you enter in the createinstallmedia command below. For this reason, we strongly suggest using a name with no spaces and no special characters. If you use FlashInstaller as the drive's name, you can just copy/paste the command line below instead of typing the rather long command into Terminal.
- Launch Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities.
- Warning:The following command will completely erase the drive named FlashInstaller.
In the Terminal window that opens, enter one of the following commands, depending on which OS X or macOS installer you're working with. The command, which starts with the text 'sudo' and ends with the word 'nointeraction' (with no quotes), can be copy/pasted into Terminal unless you used a name other than FlashInstaller. You should be able to triple-click the command line below to select the entire command.
macOS High Sierra Installer Command Line
macOS High Sierra Installer Command Line
Mac Os X Install Usb Stick
- Copy the command, paste it into Terminal, and then press the return or enter key.
- You'll be asked for your administrator password. Enter the password and press return or enter.
- The terminal will execute the command. It will first erase the destination drive, in this case, your USB flash drive named FlashInstaller. It will then begin copying all of the needed files. This process can take some time, so be patient, have some yogurt and blueberries (or your snack of choice); that should just about match the amount of time needed to complete the copying process. Of course, the speed is dependent on the device you're copying to.
- When the process is complete, Terminal will display the line Done, and then display the Terminal command prompt line.
You now have a bootable copy of the OS X or macOS installer that you can use to install the Mac OS on any of your Macs, including using the advanced Clean Install method; you can also use it as a troubleshooting utility.
OS X El Capitan, released during the Summer of 2015 and was available from the Mac App Store as a free download. Like previous versions of OS X, El Capitan has the annoying habit of automatically starting the installation process once the download is complete.
This would be fine if all you wanted to do was quickly install El Capitan as an upgrade install over your existing version of OS X. But even if this is your goal, it's not too likely that you're actually ready to start the install process. After all, there's quite a bit of housekeeping to be done before you commit to installing OS X El Capitan: that includes having a recent backup of your data and making a bootable OS X El Capitan installer on a USB flash drive.
Having a bootable installer for OS X El Capitan is a good idea, even if your plan is just to perform an upgrade install, which technically doesn’t need to be done from a separate boot device. But having your own copy of El Capitan on a separate device ensures that you'll always be able to install or reinstall it, or perform basic Mac troubleshooting tasks, even if you have no connection to the Internet or access to the Mac App Store, should you need to re-download El Capitan.
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Create a Bootable OS X El Capitan Installer on a USB Flash Drive
There are two methods of creating the bootable installer; one involves using Disk Utility, the Finder, hidden files, and a great deal of effort and time. If you wish to use this method, you can follow our guide on how to make a bootable copy USB flash drive of the OS X Yosemite Installer, and no, that's not a typo. The older process outlined in the Yosemite document will work for El Capitan; you need only be aware of file name changes, such as El Capitan instead of Yosemite in the instructions.
There's also a second method, and it's the method we prefer because it's less involved, has fewer places where things can go wrong, and only involves using a single app: Terminal.
What You Need
First, you'll need a copy of the OS X El Capitan installer. Originally, this guide was written to include instructions for the public beta of El Capitan that was released during the summer of 2015. Since the official release of El Capitan, this guide has been updated to work with the official release and no longer references any of the beta versions of the OS.
Next, download the installer from the Mac App Store. Once the download is complete, the installer will start automatically. When it does, be sure to quit the installer. If you allow the installer to actually perform an installation, the installer will delete itself at the end of the process. We need the installer program to help us create a bootable installer, so don’t let the installer run.
If you have already installed OS X El Capitan, and wish to now create a bootable installer, you can force the Mac App Store to re-download the installer.
Mac Os X Install Usb Raw
- The El Capitan installer is downloaded to the /Applications folder, with the file name Install OS X El Capitan.
- A 16 GB or larger USB flash drive. These instructions will also work for other suitable bootable devices. I’m going to assume that you're using a USB flash drive, but any bootable device will work, including an external drive or internal drive.
- A Mac that meets the OS X El Capitan minimum requirements.
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Use Terminal to Create a Bootable OS X El Capitan Installer
The process of creating the bootable OS X El Capitan installer causes the USB flash drive you're using as the destination for the installer to be erased. So, before you proceed, make sure you either have a backup of the flash drive's contents (if any) or that you don’t care that they'll be erased.
The Secret createinstallmedia Command
How To Install Macos On Usb In Windows
It's not much of a secret, especially since we have used this method in the past to create bootable installers for previous versions of OS X. But since it involves using Terminal, and entering a long command with quite a few arguments that need to be provided, it remains mostly unused, if not completely ignored, by many day-to-day Mac users. Still, it's the easiest way to create the bootable installer, so let's get started.
You need the OS X El Capitan installer you downloaded from the Mac App Store; make sure it's present in the /Applications folder. If it isn't, flip back to Page 1 of this guide for details about re-downloading the app from the store.
Create the OS X El Capitan Bootable USB Installer
- Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
- Give the flash drive an appropriate name. You can do this by double-clicking the device’s name on the desktop and then type in a new name. We suggest calling the drive elcapitaninstaller. You can use any name you wish, but it shouldn't have any spaces or special characters. If you do select a different name, you'll need to modify the Terminal command we outline below with the flash drive name you selected.
- Launch Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities.
- Warning: The following command will completely erase the flash drive named elcapitaninstaller.
- In the Terminal window that opens, enter the following command. The command is a single line of text, though your web browser may show it displayed over several lines. If you used the drive name suggested above, you can triple-click on one of the words in the command to select the entire line of text.
- Copy (command+C keys) the command, and then paste it (command+V keys) into Terminal. Press return or enter.
- You'll be asked to provide an administrator password. Enter the password, and press return or enter.
- The terminal will execute the createinstallmedia command and display the status as the process unfolds. Erasing and copying the files from the OS X El Capitan installer can take a bit of time, depending on how fast the USB flash drive is. You may want to consider taking a break and stretching your legs.
- Once Terminal completes the command, it will display the line Done, and then show the Terminal prompt waiting for a new command to be entered.
- You can now quit Terminal.
The bootable OS X El Capitan installer has been created. You can use this bootable installer to perform any of the supported installation types, including an upgrade install or a clean install. You can also use it as a bootable troubleshooting tool that includes an assortment of apps, including Disk Utility and Terminal.
If you would like to create a bootable installer of other versions of the Mac OS you can find instructions in our guide: How to Make a Bootable Flash Installer of OS X or macOS.